I traveled to Flint last night with my Sports Jockey (wife) to watch the Flint Powers Catholic - Detroit Consortium Prep showdown. I must admit, I felt that Consortium would win this game and as it happens a lot with me.......I was wrong. The Chargers came out strong and fast and Javonte Hawkins lit it up for 14 first quarter points and single handily outscored the Cougars. Hawkins drained 4 three pointers and staked Flint Powers to a 21-13 lead first quarter lead that they would never relinquish. The final score ended up being 73-52 and both Patrick Lucas-Perry and Hawkins were a two man show for the Chargers as they both chipped in 26 apiece with their combined scoring equalling the total (52) for Consortium.
Hawkins and Lucas-Perry were extremely impressive. When one was filling it up the other was observing and they traded off each quarter. Hawkins hit for 14 in the first, 10 in the 3rd. Lucas-Perry had 9 in the 2nd and 9 more in the 4th quarter. Hawkins has raised his game. The 6'5 Junior swing guard/forward has a real nice soft shot and outside jumper range of 22-25 feet. He was 5-7 from 3 point range and everyone that went in was all net. On several occasions he demonstrated explosive steps from the baseline to get to the basket. He is long so he covers great distances in a hurry with his long strides. He also has a real nice ball fake that he used effectively to get the defenders up in the air when he was on the perimeter and used it to go around them to the hole. Lucas-Perry showed me the smarts, confidence and quickness that seem to run in the family. He was exceptional from the point position either stroking the outside jumper (3 - three pointers) or distributing the ball on drives. He was 7-8 from the foul line and only had 2 turnovers the entire game.
In the 4th quarter Consortium was making a run at it and had cut the Powers lead to 49-42 with 5:30 left when Vince Adams (SR-Guard) came alive and scored 8 of his 10 total points including a nice one hand slam on a breakaway late to put an exclamation point on the victory. Adams is a nice defender and a real nice compliment guard player to Lucas-Perry. FPC had leads of 21-13 after one, 33-25 at half, 48-34 after three before barraging Consortium with a 25 point 4th quarter. I was really surprised on Consortium's inability to score on Flint's 1-3-1 zone defense. The lone bright spot for Consortium on this game was Jr guard, Travon Baker. He is a talented and quick guard that has some great moves and can dish off the drive. The problem in this game was his teammates inability to hold on to his passes and convert around the rim. Baker led the scoring with 13 and what really hurt Consortium was losing Super Soph, Vince Hunter, to early foul trouble. He picked up two quick fouls and exited the game only 4 minutes into it. He picked up his third early in the third and for some reason did not see the floor at all in the 4th quarter. I have to admit, being a retired ref, the calls certainly were going in favor of Flint. Detroit Consortium had 6 offensive fouls called on them this game and 3 of those, in my opinion, were bad calls. The Detroit coach obviously felt this way as well based on his courtside demeanor. I believe this Detroit Consortium team is well coached but something was off in this game for their coach. I couldn't understand why he went with a small lineup as he did not have the right personnel on the floor to bust the zone. He had much bigger size that he failed to utilize down low against Flint where they could have been more successful. In the 4th quarter he had Hunter (6'5), Wilms (6'10) and Peoples (6'5), who is a long player that can jump, on the bench. In my opinion he had the wrong mix of players and it showed as they had cut the lead to 7 only to lose by 21. Wilms, a talented and skillful 6'10 Junior does not start for this team and I don't know why. He did not get into the game until 3 minutes were left in the first quarter and trailing 15-9. He did get into foul trouble but only had 3 for the game and did not see much time on the floor. This kid needs playing time and is not getting it here. I think he has great upside. Now my sports jockey commented that she has seen him twice now and is not impressed, hasn't shown her anything yet. Once again.....I could be wrong and she could be right........but as the saying goes "I'd rather be happy than right". Bottom line for Consortium is that they were the number 1 team in Class C and got it handed to them last night and did not look strong in the process. They are a talented team but just didn't seem to gel as a unit, or at least the unit he had together last night didn't gel. If they can pull it all together they should rebound from this loss and be ready to compete in East Lansing in late March.
The other game that I wanted to attend was the Saginaw - Bay City Western game. Good thing I didn't go to this one. Saginaw blew them out 60-28. Not much of a game and Saginaw played without West Virginian signee, Tommy McCune. This was a real shock to me because I saw when I was out of town this week that Romulus handled Saginaw quite easily in beating them 72-54. That win might just get Romulus another notch up in my rankings. It also makes the 3/3 game with #1 Detroit Country Day look like a state championship game. Looking forward to that one.
I was surprised by how easily Southfield beat Pontiac, 70-50 on Tuesday. This Southfield team is very athletic but they have to gain that consistency to return to the Breslin Center
Great matchup tonight for the PSL championship between Detroit Cody and Detroit Southeastern. I think Southeastern is the better team and should win this one. They are another team that has a great shot at visiting the campus of Michigan State in March.
Have a Good weekend from your Basketball SNOB
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